Design & Decorative Arts Books

The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style: How to Wear Iconic Looks and Make Them Your Own

Kim France, Andrea Linett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

On the heels of the fabulously successful Lucky Shopping Manual comes the complete handbook for creating a great look based on ten iconic styles —packed with more than 450 color images.

With a circulation of 1.1 million, Lucky magazine has taken America’s most dedicated shoppers by storm, offering real-world advice and first-rate finds. Now the Lucky experts show how to put it all together in an inspiring collection of ideas that go beyond the basics and yield endless innovation for year-round reinvention.

Based on the techniques used by fashion designers for years, The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style features ten versatile archetypes that can be customized to fit varying moods, personalities, and body types. Applying these enduring styles to a dazzling spectrum of possibilities, The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style deconstructs each look, with components including clothes, shoes, accessories, patterns, and colors. Just as designers use swatches and images to spark creativity, readers will have access to hundreds of photographs from style setters. Must-haves for every closet, foolproof instructions, profiles of real-life Lucky Girls, and money-saving Lucky Breaks make this the indispensable resource for complete chic.

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Edit & Students (Design Briefs)

Ellen Lupton

Amazon Price: $14.93 List Price: $21.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Princeton Architectural Press Amazon Marketplace: 57 new & used starting at $12.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 49 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Strange, superficial overview of type-related topics 2 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I love type, but I lack an educated background on its use. I was so looking forward to learning about such details as when to prefer a sans-serif versus a serif in certain situations, how people react to various different families of faces, prescriptions for when to apply different types of layouts, and so forth.

When I got was a partially complete history lesson on how different types of faces and families evolved, an introduction to grid layouts with very little prescriptive advice, and weirdly, a brief editorial primer teaching how to mark up the printed page with pen.

To its credit, the book is full of examples of layouts. As I read, I expected any minute I'd penetrate the entry level "Here we see an example of a layout" to the real meat, but it never ever happened.

To the author's credit, the book was meticulously assembled and was clearly the product of a great deal of effort. And, this is not the first design-related book I've discovered that lacked meaningful depth.

But to any practicing designer looking for some guidance for taking their use of type to the next level, or understanding beyond his own innate instincts when to apply certain techniques, this is not the book for you. In fact, I'm not sure who this book is for.

Editorial Review:

The organization of letters on a blank sheet -- or screen -- is the most basic challenge facing anyone who practices design. What type of font to use? How big? How should those letters, words, and paragraphs be aligned, spaced, ordered, shaped, and otherwise manipulated? In this groundbreaking new primer, leading design educator and historian Ellen Lupton provides clear and concise guidance for anyone learning or brushing up on their typographic skills.
Thinking with Type is divided into three sections: letter, text, and grid. Each section begins with an easy-to-grasp essay that reviews historical, technological, and theoretical concepts, and is then followed by a set of practical exercises that bring the material covered to life. Sections conclude with examples of work by leading practitioners that demonstrate creative possibilities (along with some classic no-no's to avoid).

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition

Edward R. Tufte

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Disappointing 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but Tufte would rather right it all down. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

This is a somewhat interesting book for the catalogue of historical visual presentations, but has little to offer someone working today. The most amazing thing about this book is its incessant use of verbiage instead of visual display.

If Tufte intended his book as irony, then bravo.

If you're looking for actual help in visual display using the tools most of us have at our disposal (not the extremely expensive software that Tufte suggests) then look elsewhere for help. I recommend:

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds
or
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam

Indexed by Jessica Hagy

If you want to see great (and fun) visual displays on the web, then hit graphjam.com, zfacts.com and indexed.blogspot.com.

I would also suggest a trip to the dentist over paying for one of Tufte's seminars. Getting your teeth drilled is more pleasant than a slide show of Tufte's sculpture garden accompanied by his pedantic narcissism.

Editorial Review:

A timeless classic in how complex information should be presented graphically. The Strunk & White of visual design. Should occupy a place of honor--within arm's reach--of everyone attempting to understand or depict numerical data graphically. The design of the book is an exemplar of the principles it espouses: elegant typography and layout, and seamless integration of lucid text and perfectly chosen graphical examples. Very Highly Recommended.

David Busch's Nikon D300 Guide to Digital SLR Photography

David D. Busch

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Have you unpacked your new Nikon D300 digital SLR camera and want to get started right away taking professional quality pictures? David Busch’s Nikon D300 Guide to Digital SLR Photography will show you how, when, and why to use all the cool features, controls, and functions of your camera to take great photographs of anything. After a brief introduction to the camera to help you get your bearings, you’ll dive right into all the exciting, innovative capabilities of the D300 including the focus controls, flash synchronization options, how to choose lenses, and which exposure modes are best. Beautiful, full-color images illustrate where the essential buttons and dials are, and you’ll find tips and techniques that can be applied to any type of photography to help you take better pictures with your new digital SLR. Whether you are new to digital SLR photography or an experienced pro, David Busch’s Nikon D300 Guide to Digital SLR Photography will help you maximize your camera’s capabilities.

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

Scott Mccloud

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 125 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Reading between the lines 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As previous reviewers have mentioned, Scott McCloud is passionate about comics; part of the purpose of writing the book, it seems is to justify the argument that comics are indeed art. I found this a moot point, although his evidence was interesting. Another reason behind the book, it seems, is to explain the message behind comics: the epistomological leaps we take when we read them, the artisitic decisions made when they are created, and the evolution the art form has taken. This was not only the strongest and most interesting part of the book, but also much less preachy.

I enjoy comics, from 19th century broadsheets to the Sunday funnies and the occasional graphic novel. Until now, however, I never really thought about the conscientious decisions the artist makes between realism and meaning when drawing them. Similarly, I had never critically thought about the fundamental differences between Asian (especially Manga) comics and Western comics. McCloud has shed much light on these topics, and explains these differences and decisions clearly, without pretense.

Avid readers of comics, aspiring comic artists and purists may find McCloud a bit pedantic - for the novice such as myself, I was fascinated, as a whole new world has been opened to me through his explaination. Why the four stars then? I took a star for his argument about comics as "art". I suppose there are those who believe comics are not art (or are "low" art at the most); while I disagree with this (and side with McCloud), I thought the argument was out of place, and ultimately moot. Still, a recommended read.

Editorial Review:

A comic book about comic books. McCloud, in an incredibly accessible style, explains the details of how comics work: how they're composed, read and understood. More than just a book about comics, this gets to the heart of how we deal with visual languages in general. "The potential of comics is limitless and exciting!" writes McCloud. This should be required reading for every school teacher. Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Spiegelman says, "The most intelligent comics I've seen in a long time."

2009 Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market)

Alice Pope

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Yes, you need this. 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

While the internet provides writers with almost everything they need to succeed, there is still nothing to be found online that compares to this essential guide. Each year, Alice Pope and her crew deliver the goods, by scouring the publishing world for book, magazine and multimedia publishers that accept work from children's writers. Trust me, every successful agent and submitting author in the children's book field has a dog-eared copy of this book on the shelf. Plus, the articles that accompany the listings are of invariably high quality. A must-have.

Jon Bard
[...]

Editorial Review:

Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market is the top market guide--the bible--for children’s writers and illustrators seeking publication.The 2009 edition of this stalward companion offers readers more than 650 listings for book publishers, magazines, agents, art reps and more. Completely updated, it also contains exclusive interviews with and articles by well-respected and award-winning authors, illustrators, and publishing professionals as well as nuts-and-bolts how-to information. Readers will learn what to do, how to do it, and get loads of information and inspiration.

The Design of Everyday Things

Donald A. Norman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 147 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Designing stuff is harder than it looks 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Norman has created an entertaining and enlightening treatise on the psychology of everyday objects. Why do some things work so well while others completely baffle? What distinguishes successful utility from frustration? How does one research and develop successful products? Most importantly, how does one avoid wasting time developing products that are doomed to fail? Many everyday objects are examined for their utility and user-friendliness. Norman uses three basic concepts, Affordances, Constraints, and Mappings to deconstruct everyday objects.
If you are designing Web sites, user interfaces for computer applications, writing manuals, or creating anything that will be used by a human being, this book will help you succeed. Norman encourages you to remove your creativity and ego from the process by affording you the objectivity to examine the goal from the point of view of the user. He shows you how social and cultural constraints can be used to enhance products.
An excellent book but you must understand that using Norman's advice requires no small amount of humility which makes it difficult to sell to established shops. For instance, I know a Web design team that uses the "don't make them think" mantra for many decisions. But they've been using it so long they think they know everything about the best Web interface design. Their prejudices get in the way of successfully developing half of their projects because they can no longer think like users and visitors. They might never be able to use Norman's advice because they'd see it as obvious and pedestrian.

Editorial Review:

Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans--from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools--must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed.

How to Have Style

Isaac Mizrahi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The king of real-world chic shares his tips and award-winning flair in a colorful guidebook designed to unleash every woman’s inner fashionista.

A twenty-year veteran of the fashion industry, Isaac Mizrahi has become a unique icon in the world of style. He doesn’t do “makeovers” or take pleasure in berating the way a woman dresses. Instead, he is a problem solver—and a titan of trendsetting who believes that fashion should be seriously fun. Showcasing his singular approach to looking great, How to Have Style begins with the premise that all women should wear what inspires them. Using twelve real women facing real wardrobe dilemmas, Mizrahi walks readers through the fundamentals of finding a personal style that reflects their authentic selves. Other features include:

• A personal fashion questionnaire and how to create an inspiration board that unlocks the secrets to individual style
• Hundreds of fashion tips on everything from clothes and accessories to expert advice on skin care and makeup to mixing patterns and wearing color
• How to become a collector instead of just a shopper

Dubbed a “one-man brand” by BusinessWeek, Mizrahi shares his style rules on everything from boots to bags, from skirt length to the right undergarments. With more than 400 dazzling photographs as well as Mizrahi’s own sketches, How to Have Style makes it simple to look your best.

Envisioning Information

Edward R. Tufte

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

It's a good book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is my 3rd favorite of Tufte's books after Visual Display and Visual Explanations, but it would be a good addition for any Tufte collection and still contains useful info.

A Continually Rewarding Gem 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Every time I go back to this book I get something more out of it. Over the past 10 years I've been through my copy a couple of dozen times. If communicating information is important to you, you should take a look at this classic.

A very good resource 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Nutshell review - This is a beautiful resource on presenting information in a myriad of ways with many examples of good and bad design. Beautifully illustrated.

Portable affordable art 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Tufte follows up his debut classic with an even more beautiful piece of graphic art disguised as a guide to ways to display three (and more) dimensions on a flat surface.

While even more beautifully crafted than The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition, it has less in the way of practical guidance. Tufte's principle here can be reduced to this far-reaching but not so simply-implemented statement: increase the resolution of "flatland" (paper or computer screen) to show more data to increase clarity.

As usual, the principle is lavishly illustrated with beautifully-reproduced examples of good and bad ways of envisioning information. In fact, I have found Tufte's principle and illustrations are useful ways of thinking about how to improve my own graphics, but I find my ability to implement them frustrated by the limitations of the design tools I use most: Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Word, wikis. That is a negative reflection on the tools, not on Tufte.

In any case, enjoy Tufte's books now for the portable affordable art that they are, and hope for the tools to catch up soon.

Editorial Review:

A remarkable range of examples for the idea of visual thinking, with beautifully printed pages. A real treat for all who reason and learn by means of images. -- Rudolf Arnheim

The Lucky Shopping Manual: Building and Improving Your Wardrobe Piece by Piece

Andrea Linett, Kim France

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 120 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What to wear, how to buy, where and when to spend: These are the topics covered each month by the exceedingly plugged-in staff of Lucky, whose circulation rocketed from 500,000 to 800,000 in just two short years. For Lucky's devoted fans, and anyone devoted to dressing better and shopping smarter, The Lucky Shopping Manual will be the über-find. Finally, there is a book that does away with the inconsequential information in previous fashion books and presents only the most useful tips and imperative information for how to dress better for less. Filled with tips that will appeal to shopaholics and disciplined bargain hunters alike, this enticing guide is packed with over 1,000 full-color photos and illustrations, with a ribbon marker and flexi-cover so women can take it shopping with them.

With great advice on every uniquely designed page, The Lucky Shopping Manual includes features such as:
* Building a wardrobe you love, with cross-referenced sections on everything from skirts, tops, dresses, pants, and suits, to shoes, bags, belts, and what looks best for your body type
* How to spot great finds at the local flea market or the best boutiques
* What to spend your money on and where you can scrimp
* Cool stores coast-to-coast to check out when you're traveling
* Practical tips for fabric care, shoe maintenance, and stain remedies
* Shipping just in time for the holidays, The Lucky Shopping Manual makes a luscious gift-a fantastic shopping spree under the tree.